Cartilage is an incredibly important aspect of your joint health. When you have healthy cartilage, the connective tissue is performing a number of critical functions within the joint. It’s helping to absorb shock, aid in mobility and flexibility and it’s preventing painful bone on bone contact.
And while cartilage is really good at doing all of these tasks, the stress it has to handle also takes a toll on our cartilage. Over the years, all of this stress leads to natural cartilage degeneration, and this can cause joint stiffness and discomfort when the joint can no longer move as fluidly. Unfortunately, we can’t naturally grow back cartilage that has been lost, but researchers believe they are getting closer to a solution to regenerate cartilage in other ways. We explore the latest breakthrough in cartilage repair in today’s blog.
Regenerating Knee Cartilage
According to scientists out of the University of Northwestern, they’ve created a goo that may open the door for regenerating human knee cartilage, which could greatly change how knee arthritis is treated. As they detailed in their publication on Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), researchers say they’ve invented a rubbery goo-like substance that mimics the chemical structure of cartilage. When the goo was applied to human-like knee joints in sheep, researchers observed new cartilage growth in the animal subjects within six months.
“Cartilage is a critical component in our joints,” said Samuel Stupp, Northwestern professor of chemistry and leader of the research study. “When cartilage becomes damaged or breaks down over time, it can have a great impact on people’s overall health and mobility. The problem is that, in adult humans, cartilage does not have an inherent ability to heal. Our new therapy can induce repair in a tissue that does not naturally regenerate.”
According to the study, the goo is composed of cellular elements like peptides, proteins and polysaccharides, which effectively form an injectable “scaffolding” that binds to a protein which assists in cellular regrowth and wound healing. Moreover, this binding also helps to lubricate the joint with a version of hyaluronic acid, simplifying joint movement. Researchers say that the scaffolding system is actually better than a more cartilage-like replacement because it lays the foundation for the body to effectively rebuild itself from the inside out. When the body is given the tools it needs to fix a problem, the solution “should be more resistant to wear at tear,” according to the researchers.
So while implementation on human knees is still at best years away, the new research leaves optimism that we may soon have a more cost effective and less invasive way of treating knee pain that has been commonly treated with joint replacement surgery. There’s still many hurdles to climb, but if we can truly find a new way to help the body heal itself from the inside out, we may be able to significantly decrease the physical and financial burden of osteoarthritis.
We’ll keep our eyes on future studies that examine the effectiveness of this goo, but in the meantime, if you want a more traditional treatment for your knee or hip pain, let Dr. Botero and his team assist. Whether you want to pursue a targeted physical therapy program or learn more about your minimally invasive treatment options, we’re here for you. Give our team a call today at (865) 558-4444.
